The increasing cost and use of energy is a global concern. One unavoidable process that uses energy is the heating of buildings and more specifically the heating of a single area or room within a building. The ability to efficiently heat a room is a one way of reducing both the usage and therefore the cost of energy.
One manner to heat only a single area is to utilize a conventional space or room heater. These types of conventional heaters often have advantages over heating systems designed for an entire building. Conventional space heaters create heat within a room without the need to heat additional rooms at the same time. Space heaters also eliminate the use of duct work and other permanent structures that are expensive and absorb heat. The heat absorption of duct work etc. contributes to permanent system inefficiencies.
Although conventional space heaters have advantages over other heating systems they still posses several disadvantages as well. For example, conventional convection space heaters require an extended time period to effectively heat an entire room. Therefore the time required to evenly heat a room with a conventional convection space heater does not provide the immediate relief that many users desire.
Many conventional convection space heaters use natural convection to disperse the heated air throughout a room. The heated air naturally rises to the ceiling thereby causing temperature stratification within the room. Such stratification maintains the warmest air in the upper portion of the room; under most normal circumstances the user is located in the lower portion of the room.
Eventually a conventional convection space heater will achieve the desired air temperature at lower levels of the room. The time required to achieve the desired temperature levels at lower levels in the room can vary depending on the size of the room and the heat output from a conventional convection space heaters. At the same time the desired air temperature is achieved at lower levels of the room the air temperature in the upper portion of the room will be excessive. The energy used to generate the excessive heat build up in the upper portion of the room brings the user no relief and as a result is essentially wasted.
A response to the temperature stratification problem common to conventional convection space heaters has been the use of conventional forced air space heaters. Conventional forced air space heaters have appeared in several forms: non-oscillating, oscillation and simultaneous 360° heat output.
Conventional non-oscillating forced air space heaters use a fan to force a heated air stream into a room. This is an effective means to reduce temperature stratification in at least one area of a room. A disadvantage of such conventional non-oscillating forced air space heaters is the generation of hot and cold zones in a room. Although better than conventional convection space heaters, conventional non-oscillating forced air space heaters fail to adequately resolve the problem of uneven heating within a room.
Conventional oscillating forced air space heaters are a further improvement in this area. Conventional oscillating forced air space heaters utilize an oscillating motion to direct the heated air stream over a larger area when compared to non-oscillating forced air space heaters. Commonly the range of oscillation is about 90° of rotation. The use of an oscillation motion does not adequately resolve the problem of uneven heating within a room, it merely increase the size of the hot zone and decrease the size of the cold zone within a room.
Another attempt to overcome the problem of uneven heating within a room are conventional forced air space heaters with simultaneous continuous 360° heat discharge. Expelling heated air around a 360° circumference increases the area of discharge while at the same time lowers the velocity of the heated air stream. The low velocity of the heated air stream fails to penetrate the room, thereby causing the device to act essentially like a conventional convection space heaters.
Simply increasing the volume and velocity of the heated air stream is not a viable option for conventional forced air space heaters with simultaneous 360° heat discharge. One reason is that the increased size of components, such as for example blowers and heating elements will decrease the portability and increases the cost of the device. Another reason that increasing the volume and velocity of the heated air stream is not a viable option is the draft effect induced into the room. As the velocity and volume of air movement increase the draft generated throughout the room will create a cooling sensation in areas not in the initial discharge area of the heated air stream. The cooling sensation generated by draft is not desirable in a portable space heater.